School Bus Fleet

November 2014

A management & maintenance magazine for school transportation fleets

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the last word 76 S C H O O L B U S F L E E T • N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 SCHOOL BUS FLEET (ISSN 0036-6501) (USPS 483-800) is published monthly, except for May and November by Bobit Business Media, 3520 Challenger Street, Torrance, California 90503-1640. Periodicals postage paid at Torrance, California 90503-1640 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to School Bus Fleet, P.O. Box 1068 Skokie, IL 60076-8068. Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for address changes to take effect. Subscription Prices - United States $25 per year; Canada $30 per year; Foreign $75 per year. Single copy price - $4; Fact Book - $25. Please allow 6 to 8 weeks to receive your first issue. Bobit Business Media reserves the right to refuse non-qualified subscriptions. Please address Editorial and Advertising correspondence to the Executive Offices at 3520 Challenger Street, Torrance, California 90503-1640. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced either in whole or in part without consent of Bobit Business Media. All statements made, although based on information believed to be reliable and accurate, cannot be guaranteed and no fault or liability can be accepted for error or omission. For your Information: We sometimes make our subscriber information (i.e. fax, e-mail or mailing address) available to carefully screened organizations whose products and services may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to have your information made available, please write School Bus Fleet, P.O. Box 1068 Skokie, IL 60076-8068. Y ou don't have to be in the school bus industry long before you'll hear the term "bleed yellow." Examples: • "Patti has a passion for pu- pil transportation. She bleeds yellow." • "I used to bleed red before I starting working with school buses, but now I bleed yellow." To anyone who isn't familiar with our industry, hearing about someone bleed- ing yellow may be cause for alarm. But for those in the know, the term is like a declaration of one's commitment to the school transportation cause. Of course, it's easy to say that you bleed yellow, but how can you be sure that you ft the bill? If bleeding yellow were a medical con- dition, how would a doctor diagnose you with it? What would be the signs and symptoms? With tongue partially in cheek, here's our attempt to list some of the common characteristics of the "bleeding yellow" condition — which, by the way, may be contagious. 1. You call the passengers on your bus- es "precious cargo" — even when their behavior isn't so precious. 2. Whenever you see a school bus on the road, you turn your head to see what type of bus it is and which district or con- tractor it belongs to. 3. Better (or worse) yet, you can iden- tify the make and model of a school bus from a long distance. 4. You have a collection of school bus memorabilia in your offce, and possibly even at home. 5. You read magazines about school buses (wink, wink). 6. Your "vacations" are trips to pupil transportation confer- ences and trade shows. 7. You constantly seek out professional education and cer- tifcation opportunities (thanks to NAPT's Mike Martin for identifying this indicator). 8. You've worked your way up through the ranks to the transportation director position, but you still drive a bus when- ever you get a chance. 9. You wear yellow clothing much more often than the general public. 10. At least one of your ties has school buses on it. 11. You use unwieldy acronyms like FMVSS and MFSAB in casual conversa- tion. 12. Wherever you go, you fnd yourself talking to people about how school buses are the safest way for students to get to and from school. 13. Your job is demanding, you work long hours and some days feel like barely controlled chaos — but you love it. 14. You could have gone into a more f- nancially lucrative line of work, but safe- ly transporting students proved to be a more rewarding calling. If you have one or more of the signs and symptoms listed above, don't be con- cerned. Please keep doing what you're doing. You are making a difference in the lives of students. You are helping to protect them and to give them access to an edu- cation. We need people who bleed yellow. By Frank Di Giacomo, VP, Bus and Rail/Publisher 14 signs and symptoms of 'bleeding yellow' If bleeding yellow were a medical condition, how would a doctor diagnose you with it?

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